2012 International Conference on High Voltage Engineering and Application, Shanghai, China, September 17-20, 2012

Prediction of v-t Characteristics

of Air at different pressures
Balaji.S.P, Latha Maheswari.K and Usa.S
Division of High Voltage Engineering,
CEG, Anna University, Chennai.

Abstract-The breakdown characteristics of any given the experimental setup. The Voltage is measured using suitable
insulation is determined by its voltage–time (v-t) characteristics. capacitive and resistive dividers.
The superior characteristics of compressed air will mitigate the
use of SF6 gas in Medium voltage circuit breakers and indoor
design gas CB. In order to analyze the performance of compressed TABLE I
air experiments are carried out for various pressures and
MARX CIRCUIT AND EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
waveshapes and compared for different electrode configurations.
In this paper voltage–time (v-t) characteristics are extracted for
different pressures ranges from 30 mbars to 4000 mbars for
impulse overvoltage ranging from 0.064/50μs, 0.4/50μs and
1.2/50μs. The breakdown characteristics are compared for
uniform field and non-uniform field configurations. The Marx circuit
Parametric constants A and B are obtained using hyperbolic with vacuum
model. The A and B constants are predicted for pressure of 2000 chamber
mbars and are compared with the experimental data obtained and
error percentage are found.
Key word-Breakdown characteristics, compressed air, v-t
characteristics, lightning impulse, VFTO.

I. INTRODUCTION
Breakdown characteristics of small as well as large air gaps
has been reported, still the performance of the insulation have
been main concem of many researchers under the surge which
often occur in a real transmission system [3]. In practice, a
dielectric system is stressed by transient voltages of wide
varieties of waveshapes, caused by lightning as well as by
switching. The rise time of a lightning-caused transient voltage
varies from submicrosecond regime to about 10 μs .The rise
time of a switching surge is generally believed to be several
hundred microseconds. However, it is known that certain types
of circuit breakers (e.g., SF6, and vacuum) can generate
switching surges with rise times in the nanosecond regime.
A review of past research showed lack of experimental data,
an attempt has been made to analyze the breakdown
characteristics under various pressures ranges from 30 mbars to
4000 mbars under standard lightning impulse(1.2/50μs), very
fast transient overvoltages(0.064/50μs) and steep fronted wave
(0.7/50μs).
II. GENERATION AND MEASUREMENT OF IMPULSE
WAVESHAPES
A 140 kV, 250 kJ MWB impulse voltage generator is used
to generate various impulse voltages of standard lightning
impulse(1.2/50μs), very fast transient overvoltages (0.064/50μs) determined by finite element package and tabulated in table II.
and steep fronted wave (0.7/50μs). The values of R and C are
deciding parameters to control the waveshapes. Table I shows
Experimental
setup
140kV, MWB, Marx circuit test kit with vacuum
C1– Charging capacitor
C2– Potential divider
R1–Front resistor
R2 – Tail Resistor
III. TEST PROCEDURE
Calibration of the generator with the test specimen is carried
out using the standard sphere gap arrangement with relevant
atmospheric correction factors.
1. The minimum breakdown voltage of the dielectric
medium with a single impulse (N=1) is considered as
VBD (100% breakdown).
2. The VBD is increased in steps and the corresponding
time taken to breakdown is noted.
3. The breakdown of sphere gap is controlled by the use
of trigatron gap.
4. The above procedure is repeated for different
waveshapes having different breakdown voltage (VBD).
IV. ELECTRODE CONFIGURATION AND UTILIZATION FACTOR
The utilization factor for various electrode configurations is

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 2012 International Conference on High Voltage Engineering and Application, Shanghai, China, September 17-20, 2012

TABLE II
UTILIZATION FACTOR FOR ELECTRODE CONFIGURATIONS

Type of Dimensions Utilization

electrode factor
Plane - Plane Flat 0.996
Sphere - Sphere ϕ 20mm 0.944
Rod - Rod ϕ15 x 53 mm 0.473

Fig. 3 v-t characteristics for sphere-sphere configuration

For Non uniform field configuration, the effect of change in

air pressure will not change in breakdown strength when
compared to uniform field configuration.

VI. V-T CHARACTERISTICS FOR DIFFERENT

WAVESHAPES
The v-t characteristics for steep fronted wave having front
time 0.7/50 µs and compared with different pressures. As
shown in Fig.4.
Fig.1 Equipotential plot for uniform field configuration(η = 0.944)

The equipotential plot for sphere – sphere electrode

configuration is shown in the Fig.1.

V. V-T CHARACTERISTICS FOR DIFFERENT FIELD

CONFIGURATION
The Breakdown characteristics of air is obtained from v-t
characteristics for uniform and non uniform electrode
configurations under Standard Lightning Impulse voltage.
1) At 4000 mbars: The v-t characteristics are extracted for
the electrode having utilization factor η = 0.944, 0.996 and
0.473as shown in Fig.2. Fig.4 v-t characteristics of air for 0.7/50 µs

Similarly the v-t characteristics for very fast transient

overvoltage having front time of 0.064/50 µs is extracted and
shown in Fig.5.

Fig. 2 v-t characteristics for lightning impulse at 4000 mbars

The v-t characteristics are extracted for the electrode having

utilization factor η = 0.944 for th pressure of 4000 mbars, 1013
mbars and 30 mbars and are compared as shown in Fig.3.
Fig.5 v-t characteristics of air for 0.064/50 µs

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 2012 International Conference on High Voltage Engineering and Application, Shanghai, China, September 17-20, 2012

VII. MATHEMATICAL MODEL

The V-t characteristic is modeled using the hyperbolic

equation [5]. The expression is given in equation 1.

V = A + B/tb (1)
Where,
V is the breakdown voltage in kV.
tb is the breakdown time in µs.
A and B are constants.
The parametric constants A and B are extracted from the V-
T characteristics. The constant A is proportional to offset
voltage (i.e. minimum voltage required to initiate the
breakdown process, this voltage is dependent on gap distance,
dielectric and also on electrode configuration) and constant B Fig.6 Variation of A (kV) constant at various pressures
is proportional to breakdown time, which is inversely
proportional to the peak of voltage applied.
TABLE III
COMPARISON OF A (KV) CONSTANT AT DIFFERENT PRESSURES

Lightning impulse Steep

VFTO
(1.2/50μs) fronted
(0.064/50
Pressure wave
μs)
η=0.944 η=0.473 (0.7/50μs)
η = 0.944
η= 0.944
4000
41.87 30.59 39.293 32.65
mbars
1030
34.21 23.90 31.21 25.34
mbars
30 Fig.7 Variation of B (kV-μs) constant at various pressures
31.01 21.54 28.9 23.58
mbars

The parametric constants A and B are tabulated in Table III VIII. PREDICTION OF V-T CHARACTERISTICS
and Table IV for different pressure and waveshapes.
In order to predict the characteristics of air at different
TABLE IV
pressures, for given waveforms a test pressure of 2000 mbars is
COMPARISON OF B (KV-ΜS) CONSTANT AT DIFFERENT PRESSURES considered and the parametric constant, ‘A’ and ‘B’ are
Lightning impulse Steep predicted from the Fig.6 and Fig.7 respectively. The predicted
VFTO values are compared with the experimental parametric
(1.2/50μs) fronted
0.064/50
Pressure wave constants for the validation and the percentage error is
μs
η= 0.944 η=0.473 0.7/50μs calculated at 2000 mbars as shown in Table V and Table VI.
η = 0.944
η= 0.944
TABLE V
4000
9.86 5.55 7.12 4.64
mbars PREDICTED AND EXPERIMENTAL VALUE OF A (KV) CONSTANT
1030 FOR 2000 MBARS
6.12 2.97 4.44 2.25
mbars
30 2.57
5.55 3.92 1.84 Steep
mbars Lightning VFTO
2000 fronted
impulse (0.064/50
mbars wave
The Breakdown characteristics can be predicted from the (1.2/50μs) μs)
(0.7/50μs)
parametric constant A(kv) and B (kV-μs).The variation of the
parametric constant A(kv) and B (kV-μs) are shown in the Predicted
36.8 33.9 27.6
Fig.6 and Fig.7 respectively. value
Experime
36.13 33.188 25.9
ntal value
% Error 1.8 2.1 3.4

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 2012 International Conference on High Voltage Engineering and Application, Shanghai, China, September 17-20, 2012
TABLE VI S.P.Balaji received the B.E. Degree in Electrical and Electronics
engineering from Adhiparasakthi Engineering college,Anna university in
PREDICTED AND EXPERIMENTAL VALUE OF B (KV-ΜS) 2006.He received the M.E. degree from the college of
CONSTANT FOR 2000 MBARS Engineering,Guindy,Anna University in 2008. At present he is a research
Steep scholar in the Division of High Voltage Engineering Guindy, Anna University,
Lightning VFTO Chennai, India
2000 fronted
impulse (0.064/50
mbars wave
(1.2/50μs) μs) K.Latha Maheswari received the B.E. Degree in Electrical and Electronics
(0.7/50μs) engineering from M.Kumarasamy College Of Engineering,Karur Tamilnadu in
Predicted 2010. At present she is a post graduate student in the Division of High Voltage
7.3 5.2 3.05 Engineering Guindy, Anna University, Chennai, India.
value
Experime
7.08 5.034 2.879 S. Usa received the B.E., M.E., and Ph.D. Degrees in Electrical and
ntal value Electronics Engineering from the College of Engineering, Guindy, Anna
% Error 2.9 3.2 5.6 University, Chennai, India in 1986, 1989 and 1995, respectively. In 1992, she
joined the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Anna
University and at present she is Head of Electrical Department and Professor in
the Division of High voltage Engineering. She is also one of the working group
IX. CONCLUSIONS members for CIGRE A2/C4.39 Electrical transient interaction between
The effect of pressure, electrode field configuration and transformers and power systems.
waveshapes in breakdown characteristics of air are analyzed.
As the non uniformity increases by 50%, the breakdown
voltage decreases by 41%. The breakdown strength of air
decreases by 35% when the steepness of the waveform
increases by 94% at 4000 mbars. Using the Hyperbolic model,
the variation of parametric constant A and B are extracted with
respect to pressure for uniform field configurations and
different overvoltages. Using the above model, the breakdown
time can be predicted for various pressures between 30 mbars
and 4000 mbars and waveshapes. From this v-t characteristics
can be constructed for any pressure and wave front.
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